Lombard... (Chicago, Naperville, Wheaton: low income, sales, real estate)

Hi- I've always known of Lombard's existence, but never really drove through the town or explored. There are some surprisingly charming areas! The homes are quite reasonable.. and there's great access to all of the highways that me and my husband need. We have two toddlers, and have found several great homes near Hammerschmidt Elementary school.. Any feedback on the area? It seems really charming, and we've been driving through neighborhoods and it appears very clean and family oriented. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

[North Side Brandon]

Originally Posted by Rae4732

Hi- I've always known of Lombard's existence, but never really drove through the town or explored. There are some surprisingly charming areas! The homes are quite reasonable.. and there's great access to all of the highways that me and my husband need. We have two toddlers, and have found several great homes near Hammerschmidt Elementary school.. Any feedback on the area? It seems really charming, and we've been driving through neighborhoods and it appears very clean and family oriented. Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Many pretty solid younger who grewup in Hinsdale, Elmhurst, Wheaton and Glen Ellyn have been priced out of those places. Lombard is a place they are looking at to buy their first home. Lombard has much going for it.

[chet everett]

I really doubt that there is any abundance of young people that grew up in the more desirable towns that would prefer to live in Lombard over Chicago or even N/ NW suburbs from Lake Co through the Fox River Valley or Naperville where the lifestyle is often more similar to pre-real estste bubble Hinsdale . In my experience the kids that are "priced out" of the nicer suburbs that they grew up in tend to look for an alternative that still has good core. If they can't find that in a region (and a job to pay for it...) they tend to head out of state -- a fair number of my kid's classmates from Hinsdale Central have stayed in colleg towns like Ann Arbor or Madison. More than a few kids have moved to California / Arizona / Seattle / Portland. Plenty are in the metro regions of NYC, Boston or Philly. A good bunch live in the Carolinas, especially if they went to school in the SE...

Anyhow I like Lombard. It is definitely far less desirable than Glen Ellyn, Wheaton or Elmhurst, which are are all on the same train line. Schools are not as good, downtown is not as well developed. It compares favorably to Villa Park, which has some of the same negatives but with higher sales tax revenue (largely from Yorktown Mall...) the town can afford a little nicer level of service at a little better propety tax rate.

It is not at all true that there are any particular mix of "first time buyers" as more and more young people do prefer a condo in Chicago as their first real estste purchase. What you do see in Lombard is folks that weigh the trade offs of town against a much less intimidating price tag -- for folks that get sticker shock even in Downers Grove the relative value of Lombard is hard to argue with...

[North Side Brandon]

Originally Posted by chet everett

I really doubt that there is any abundance of young people that grew up in the more desirable towns that would prefer to live in Lombard over Chicago or even N/ NW suburbs from Lake Co through the Fox River Valley or Naperville where the lifestyle is often more similar to pre-real estste bubble Hinsdale . In my experience the kids that are "priced out" of the nicer suburbs that they grew up in tend to look for an alternative that still has good core. If they can't find that in a region (and a job to pay for it...) they tend to head out of state -- a fair number of my kid's classmates from Hinsdale Central have stayed in colleg towns like Ann Arbor or Madison. More than a few kids have moved to California / Arizona / Seattle / Portland. Plenty are in the metro regions of NYC, Boston or Philly. A good bunch live in the Carolinas, especially if they went to school in the SE...

Anyhow I like Lombard. It is definitely far less desirable than Glen Ellyn, Wheaton or Elmhurst, which are are all on the same train line. Schools are not as good, downtown is not as well developed. It compares favorably to Villa Park, which has some of the same negatives but with higher sales tax revenue (largely from Yorktown Mall...) the town can afford a little nicer level of service at a little better propety tax rate.

It is not at all true that there are any particular mix of "first time buyers" as more and more young people do prefer a condo in Chicago as their first real estste purchase. What you do see in Lombard is folks that weigh the trade offs of town against a much less intimidating price tag -- for folks that get sticker shock even in Downers Grove the relative value of Lombard is hard to argue with...

I would bet some of these first time buyers work in Oak Brook and Lombard is a close drive for them. They might move up to Elmhurst when they have more money in their pockets.

I guess I am looking for the negatives, and more specifically why is it "far less desireable"? Glen Ellyn is literally right next door. Why is that town SOOOO great, that the homes are much pricier. Same highway access. Is this just some random opinion? I didn't see many apartment complexes in Lombard... Lots of parks, families, and people who looked darn happy! is there a huge crime rate that I don't know of? Housing seems mixed, and most very well kept.

As far as schools being "good" or "bad".. I always crack up at these statements. My husband grew up on the north shore, went to an east coast college prep school, and to Duke University. He doesn't use his degree (specifically) and admits that grade school is grade school. Many of my teacher friends SWEAR that the vital difference is the parents. Friends that have taught in lower income areas, and now in the prestigious "Naperville" school district, say "kids are kids". The big difference is how involved the parents are. Kids in the higher income areas get tutoring if help is needed, and tend to have parents that sit down and do homework with them daily. Kids in the lower income areas may have parents that are more stretched and less involved. Bottom line, I am not worried that Hammerschmidt elementary is rated an 8 vs a 10 on that dumb great schools website. The grade school I went to is like a 2, and I have a masters degree and a very successful career. As long as there are not any bullets flying past my child's head.. I think he will be fine

[chet everett]

There definitely are more apartments in Lombard -- some are pretty nice (closer to the core of town), but others do attract the more transient crowd that leads to the town spending more money on police and such. I would not recommend many of the apartments closer to Roosevelt Rd or those around North Ave or even those around Yorktown Mall unless you do not have kids...

In addition to Glen Ellyn being "right next door", parts of Glen Ellyn border Addison and unincorporated parts of DuPage Co that are sort of visually unappealing and /or prone to undesirable businesses taking advantage of more lax zoning...

The overall level of desirability may seem like a bit of a "chicken and egg" problem along with affluence but the basis of these things (which admittedly is sort of self perpetuating ...) often is not just "better schools" but more visually attractive homes spread over a wider area, more impressive public amenities, and a more responsive local government that better represents the interests of local residents and is less swayed by compliance to the wishes of far away business owners that drive things like the indoor malls and big box stores as opposed to smaller scale locally owned businesses that are more common in Glen Ellyn. Don't get me wrong, it is possible to pull off having a regional mall and other big businesses AND high quality residential areas (like in Oak Brook) but the unique layout of that town (parts of which are exceedingly low density...) is much more rare.


I am probably the loudest advocate on these boards for buying a home served by the best schools you can afford. I have been a teacher in CPS, as well as suburban public school, and private school in the region and I absolutely agree that for any INDIVIDUAL student the influence of parents is far and away a bigger determinate of success BUT in the aggregate the overall success of students is always higher in more affluent areas -- this is a multifaceted effect but certainly includes the fact that in affluent areas kids come to school healthier and more prepared for school, there is similarly a different kind of expectation even for students with special needs to say nothing of the overall level of both personal enrichment that comes from travel and easy access to cultural institutions as well as the greater resources that schools in well off towns can lavish on classrooms / teachers / students. These things all contribute to the fact that from an investment in your home standpoint towns with top rated schools have much better price appreciation / stability. By no means are any individual students "doomed" by going to schools a tier or two (or three or four...) down IF THEY HAVE COMMITTED PARENTS but if you are already a committed parent AND can afford a home in a town that on average is more desirable vs even a bigger home in town with less well regarded schools that speaks to your priorities and it is basically impossible to even do any kind of "twin study" that would categorically eliminate that influence.

Beyond the academics of the school I will take exception to the generalization that "kids are kids" and instead will say there is a different kind of access to the broad "tools of success" that comes from being around a more educated / entrepreneurial set of neighbors. There are dozens / hundreds of stories of this. Do some googling about even businesses as seemingly "non high powered" as the local based as Home Made Pizza Co. The founder, Eric Fosse, was a NT grad and went to Princeton where he studied architecture or art history or something. He and his then girl friend / now wife were "pals" with Brook Shields. After college Eric and co-founder Audrey headed to NY to try to make it as photographs or artists or whatever. They instead got tired of cheap NY pizza and wanted to create something a little more like the endless list of customization that regular Chicago area pizza places offered. Tapping into the move toward healthier "cook it yourself" options they hit on a good concept BUT connections to media darlings (like Ms. Shields as well as the once famous media buzz that came from an Oprah endorsement ) were really the keys to their success.

Of course there are folks that go to Ivy League schools and end up working in the endless rows of cubicles that kids out of East State Tech do but I think even the most "dismissive of the value of my expensive education" grad would be hard pressed to say that they would be exactly where they are if they never did go to Duke or whatever... It ain't just about "using your degree" it truly is about the experiences / friendships / horizon broadening. To some degree this is a variation on the "I want my kids to experience diversity" argument that some spout but given my experience the value of having an overly structured school experience as is often the response to under-prepared, unruly children coming from a background where education is not valued is the more likely result. To be sure the schools in Lombard are very very very very very much better than the worst of the dysfunctional CPS facilities and really the actual differences between schools of Glen Ellyn is quite modest in comparison but these differences do exist. To go back to the world of pizza the worst of CPS makes a generic pie from Sabarro, Little Caesars or Pizza Hut seem like a pretty nicely assembled option, Hinsdale vs Glen Ellyn is like debating the finer points of Burt's vs Peqouds. Lombard is probably a solid Giordanao's. Your husband's prep school was like a artisanal coal fired pizza spot...

It really is about much more than "not having bullets flying around" -- even once nice suburbs have cut way back on things like art and music. Few schools offer a well designed foreign language curriculum. Too many schools rely on a "one size fits no one" approach to important things like mathematics and literature. I sympathize with the intentions of the well meaning, thoughtful homeschoolers that want to give their kids the richest education possible but even then the pitfalls of having isolation from other children or even adults with a balanced view of what ought to be emphasized / reigned-in often has negative consequences that outweigh the positives.

Originally Posted by Rae4732

I guess I am looking for the negatives, and more specifically why is it "far less desireable"? Glen Ellyn is literally right next door. Why is that town SOOOO great, that the homes are much pricier. Same highway access. Is this just some random opinion? I didn't see many apartment complexes in Lombard... Lots of parks, families, and people who looked darn happy! is there a huge crime rate that I don't know of? Housing seems mixed, and most very well kept.

As far as schools being "good" or "bad".. I always crack up at these statements. My husband grew up on the north shore, went to an east coast college prep school, and to Duke University. He doesn't use his degree (specifically) and admits that grade s chool is grade school. Many of my teacher friends SWEAR that the vital difference is the parents. Friends that have taught in lower income areas, and now in the prestigious "Naperville" school district, say "kids are kids". The big difference is how involved the parents are. Kids in the higher income areas get tutoring if help is needed, and tend to have parents that sit down and do homework with them daily. Kids in the lower income areas may have parents that are more stretched and less involved. Bottom line, I am not worried that Hammerschmidt elementary is rated an 8 vs a 10 on that dumb great schools website. The grade school I went to is like a 2, and I have a masters degree and a very successful career. As long as there are not any bullets flying past my child's head.. I think he will be fine

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by chet everett

In addition to Glen Ellyn being "right next door", parts of Glen Ellyn border Addison and unincorporated parts of DuPage Co that are sort of visually unappealing and /or prone to undesirable businesses taking advantage of more lax zoning...

There aren't any parts of the Village of Glen Ellyn that border Addison, but we do share a pretty large border with Glendale Heights to the north, often buffered by unincorporated areas. "Unincorporated Glen Ellyn" is a bit of a mixed bag. It includes some rougher-looking housing on roads with no sidewalks that are almost rural in character and septic/well instead of sewer and public water, but also includes a lot of the newer "branded" subdivisions with large brick entry signs and city services. There are few businesses in unincorporated Glen Ellyn.

To the OP: I recently moved to Glen Ellyn on a little bit on a whim because of low real estate inventory and the right house in the right location popping up at the right time. We were initially looking at more inner-ring Cook County suburbs like Oak Park, La Grange, Riverside, and Western Springs. We had basically ruled out Lombard because of high school performance without much investigation in to the other facets of the town. But Lombard is probably still well within the boundaries of middle class respectability with the exception of a few rough spots, and has some really nice areas. Some schools are better than others. I'm not convinced that it's not a good value-priced suburb at this point in time.

I don't know any parents with kids in Glenbard East, but it seems like the test scores have leveled off after a period of declines. The test scores for white students are just "meh", but not terrible. The test scores there for Hispanic and Black students are absolutely atrocious. Hammerschmidt and Park View both seem like really solid elementary schools.

[chet everett]

I meant to say parts of Lombard abut Addison. I agree with LK's assessment and do agree that the performance numbers for some of the student subgroups at Glenbard East are quite discouraging. The record of mult-campus high school only districts in the region suggests that there may be some negatives associated with such a structure; my personal experience is that such districts tend to dilute the message of concerned parents more than than in the districts where those voices make a more substantial part of the population...

Well thanks for the input.. I just could care less about test scores. I really think it is all a bunch of bologna. Like I said, I know plenty of people from both ends of the spectrum.. some who are successful and some who are not. Some who had the greatest schools and opportunities, and some who didn't. Myself- crappy schools, single parent household, low income area... I am a speech pathologist with a grad degree making a great salary.

Some students simply test better than others, and their results do not accurately reflect school performance. I hate taking tests, took the GRE three times.. but, I was a great student and went far. So, test scores are not that big of a deal in my book.

Also, my kids are 1 and 2.. the homes we are looking at are in the Hammerschmidt area. Hopefully, if we move there, their lives aren't ruined because the elementary school is only ranked an 8 on "great schools"... Come on!

[Demoanalytics]

Hi Rae,

Anecdotes are great qualitative opinions so you can get a "flavor" of what other people think about certain places. Personally, I don't like Lombard, but that is my personal preference.

The only way you can get a real solid idea of what makes a particular neighborhood/school desirable is to gather facts and apply those facts to what you are looking for. There are great free resources online that you can use to help you decide whether or not a particular place might make a good home.

For schools, you can get data about school quality from ISBE.
To find out if your chosen town and neighborhood meet your requirements, you should do some research using the Census Bureau's website. Always remember, it's not the people that live on the other side of town that will affect your quality of life, but the people that live right next door and across the street. Choose wisely.

Demoanalytics